The Heart Disease Link to Red Meat

Many people love eating a juicy hamburger or steak. Red meat is a nutritional staple in our western diets. More information is coming out about the short and long term health effects of a diet high in red meat. A study was recently released that proved that a compound found in red meat (carnitine), causes the laying down of plaque in arteries, called atherosclerosis. This is the same compound found in some energy drinks. The more carnitine you consume, the better your gut gets at converting it to a compound called trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). Previous research by a team of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that TMAO promotes atherosclerosis in people. This is even more of a reason to decrease red meat consumption. This is just one reason why I recommend eating red meat no more than 1 time per week.